West Trenton, NJ – New Jersey County and Municipal Emergency Management officials are invited to briefings which will explain the process of applying for Federal disaster assistance for debris removal, snow removal, emergency protective measures, and hazard mitigation in the wake of the severe winter storm and snowstorm which impacted Bergen, Essex, Morris, Passaic, and Somerset Counties during the period of March 06-07, 2018. Though the meetings are not open to the public, citizens will benefit from the assistance received by their individual counties to offset the financial impact of the storm. Federal and State disaster recovery officials announced today that briefings will take place as follows:

President Donald J. Trump has designated five (5) New Jersey counties eligible for disaster assistance: Bergen, Essex, Morris, Passaic, and Somerset counties. Of those counties, two (2) are eligible for snow assistance for a continuous 48-hour period during or proximate to the incident period on a cost-sharing basis: Bergen and Morris.“Every disaster New Jersey experiences is a learning opportunity. It also gives us the ability to enhance our policies and procedures,” said Major Louis Bucchere, Commanding Officer of the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management. “We have an obligation to ensure that federal, state, and local dollars are used responsibly. These briefings are conducted to educate county and local officials on the eligibility requirements, application development and reimbursement process to make them successful in providing assistance to their local communities.”

This Public Assistance grant declaration means that affected county and municipal governments are eligible to apply for federal assistance to fund 75 percent of the approved costs for debris removal, emergency protective measures, and repairing, restoring or replacing damaged public facilities.

All counties in the State of New Jersey are eligible to apply for assistance under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.